The present invention is set against a background of change in society's attitudes to how natural resources are used. Petroleum feedstocks are nonrenewable and increasingly costly, even impacting significantly on national balances of payment, and supply can be uncertain. There is a perception, increasingly commonly held, that it may be for the general good of society, as well as of the environment, to reduce the reliance of consumer disposable goods manufacturing on such feedstocks. However, a serious response to such notions requires efficient processes for converting locally or regionally available renewable resource feedstocks into desirable consumer goods such as laundry detergents.
The United States produces very considerable tonnages of sugars, such as glucose or corn syrup, as well as of fatty substances. There is a downward trend in traditional patterns of consumption of these particular renewable resources: people are tending to eat less sugars, and also less fatty foods, especially saturated fats, for health-related reasons. This makes their development for other uses, such as laundry detergents, all the more attractive.